Maud and the Lost Boys
Dec. 10th, 2021 01:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smokingboot“But where do you live mostly now?"
With the lost boys."
Who are they?"
They are the children who fall out of their perambulators when the nurse is looking the other way. If they are not claimed in seven days they are sent far away to the Neverland to defray expanses. I'm captain."
A previously unknown relative contacted me. After establishing credentials, she sent me this:
It is our mutual great-grandmother, Maud.
The little details of this photo captivate me, the expression in her eyes, the thistle brooch at her throat. Maud's story is sad; she was born and lived in Belfast but fled the country to get away from her abusive husband. It looks as though she might have been pregnant at the time, with my grandfather, who would be born in Glasgow. Maud's mother and step-father were in Scotland, and appear to have been very supportive.
Back in Belfast, Maud's brutal husband put their other children in the work house. His mother got the kids out because of 'the shame of it.' Her sense of propriety appeased, she was not kind to the children. As soon as they could they made their own way, to Australia, and other places. The unknown relative is descended from one of these unfortunates.
Maud eventually found true love. Divorce was almost impossible for women at the time and even attempting it might have entailed her husband learning where she was, so she and this gentleman lived together and appear to have been very fond of each other, so much so that - I did warn it was a sad story - when she died in her 30s of cancer of the uterus, he killed himself less than a month later. I'll welcome him to my family of phantoms, and drink a toast to him next Halloween. Meanwhile my grandfather was unofficially adopted by his grandmother and step-grandfather. And when the time came for him to desert and disappear, he did it thoroughly, even changing his name.
Why and how do these men pass on their behaviours? Maud's husband, whom I shall not grant the dignity of a name today, abused his wife and abandoned his kids to poverty and servitude just to spite her, or force her back. His son, my grandfather, abandoned his wife and child. His son, my father, abandoned us a few times, though he always came back, and yes, he was an abusive husband.
You'd say, wouldn't you, to your own little Wendy Darling, or anyone likely to be lured, to be very careful of these Lost Boys. They won't be rescued or saved, they'll just do what they do until they burn out, but not before they've lost a few things of your own; your heart, your self respect, your children, your life.
Maud's horrible husband lived til 1974. If he's anywhere beyond pushing up daisies, it's probably not Neverland.
With the lost boys."
Who are they?"
They are the children who fall out of their perambulators when the nurse is looking the other way. If they are not claimed in seven days they are sent far away to the Neverland to defray expanses. I'm captain."
A previously unknown relative contacted me. After establishing credentials, she sent me this:
It is our mutual great-grandmother, Maud.
The little details of this photo captivate me, the expression in her eyes, the thistle brooch at her throat. Maud's story is sad; she was born and lived in Belfast but fled the country to get away from her abusive husband. It looks as though she might have been pregnant at the time, with my grandfather, who would be born in Glasgow. Maud's mother and step-father were in Scotland, and appear to have been very supportive.
Back in Belfast, Maud's brutal husband put their other children in the work house. His mother got the kids out because of 'the shame of it.' Her sense of propriety appeased, she was not kind to the children. As soon as they could they made their own way, to Australia, and other places. The unknown relative is descended from one of these unfortunates.
Maud eventually found true love. Divorce was almost impossible for women at the time and even attempting it might have entailed her husband learning where she was, so she and this gentleman lived together and appear to have been very fond of each other, so much so that - I did warn it was a sad story - when she died in her 30s of cancer of the uterus, he killed himself less than a month later. I'll welcome him to my family of phantoms, and drink a toast to him next Halloween. Meanwhile my grandfather was unofficially adopted by his grandmother and step-grandfather. And when the time came for him to desert and disappear, he did it thoroughly, even changing his name.
Why and how do these men pass on their behaviours? Maud's husband, whom I shall not grant the dignity of a name today, abused his wife and abandoned his kids to poverty and servitude just to spite her, or force her back. His son, my grandfather, abandoned his wife and child. His son, my father, abandoned us a few times, though he always came back, and yes, he was an abusive husband.
You'd say, wouldn't you, to your own little Wendy Darling, or anyone likely to be lured, to be very careful of these Lost Boys. They won't be rescued or saved, they'll just do what they do until they burn out, but not before they've lost a few things of your own; your heart, your self respect, your children, your life.
Maud's horrible husband lived til 1974. If he's anywhere beyond pushing up daisies, it's probably not Neverland.
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